BIBLIO is the largest independent book marketplace in the world, with over 100 million books.

Skip to content

Conceiving Israel: The Fetus in Rabbinic Narratives
Stock photo: cover may vary

Conceiving Israel: The Fetus in Rabbinic Narratives Hardback - 2009

by Gwynn Kessler

Add to wish list

Reader reviews for Conceiving Israel: The Fetus in Rabbinic Narratives

Write a review for this book

There are no reviews for this book yet. Be the first to write a review!

Your review will be anonymous unless you login or create an account first.

Overall rating
Remember: You’re rating the book as a work, not the seller or the condition of the specific copy you purchased!

Important Terms and Guidelines

  • Please focus on the book’s content and context. Also, add any personal comments as to how you enjoyed the book. Substantiate your likes and dislikes. You may make comparisons to other books.
  • Reviews must be at least 140 characters in length.
  • Please do not reveal critical plot elements.
  • This is not a help line. Contact customer support if you need help.
Your review must not include:
  • Obscenities, discriminatory language, or other insulting language not suitable for public domain
  • Advertisements, “spam” content, or references to other products, offers or websites.
  • Email addresses, URLs, phone numbers, physical addresses or other contact information.
  • Overly critical comments about other reviews or reviewers
  • Time-sensitive material (i.e. promotional tours, seminars, lectures, etc.)
  • Availability, price, or alternative ordering/shipping information

From the publisher

In Conceiving Israel, Gwynn Kessler examines the peculiar fascination of the rabbis of late antiquity with fetuses--their generation, development, nurturance, and even prenatal study habits--as expressed in narrative texts preserved in the Palestinian Talmud and those portions of the Babylonian Talmud attributed to Palestinian sages. For Kessler, this rabbinic speculation on the fetus served to articulate new understandings of Jewishness, gender, and God. Drawing on biblical, Christian, and Greco-Roman traditions, she argues, the rabbis developed views distinctive to late ancient Judaism.

Kessler shows how the rabbis of the third through sixth centuries turned to non-Jewish writings on embryology and procreation to explicate the biblical insistence on the primacy of God's role in procreation at the expense of the biological parents (and of the mother in particular). She examines rabbinic views regarding God's care of the fetus, as well as God's part in determining fetal sex. Turning to the fetus as a site for the construction of Jewish identity, she explicates the rabbis' reading of "famous fetuses," or biblical heroes-to-be. If, as they argue, these males were born already circumcised, Jewishness and the covenantal relation of Israel to its God begin in the womb, and the womb becomes the site of the ongoing reenactment of divine creation, exodus, and deliverance. Rabbinic Jewish identity is thus vividly internalized by an emphasis on the prenatal inscription of Jewishness; it is not, and can never be, merely a matter of external practice.

Details

  • Title Conceiving Israel: The Fetus in Rabbinic Narratives
  • Author Gwynn Kessler
  • Binding Hardback
  • Edition [ Edition: First
  • Pages 256
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia
  • Publication date 2009-09-23
  • Features Bibliography, Dust Cover, Index, Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780812241754 / 0812241754
  • Weight 1.2 lbs (0.54 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.2 x 6.3 x 1.1 in (23.37 x 16.00 x 2.79 cm)
  • Themes
    • Chronological Period: Ancient (To 499 A.D.)
    • Religious Orientation: Jewish
  • Category Religion - Judaism
  • Library of Congress subjects Rabbinical literature - History and criticism, Fetuses in rabbinical literature
  • Library of Congress Catalogue Number 2009001015
  • Dewey Decimal Code 296.120

Media reviews

Citations

  • Choice, 04/01/2010, Page 0
  • Chronicle of Higher Education, 10/09/2009, Page 16

About the author

Gwynn Kessler teaches religion at Swarthmore College.
Back to top↑

More Copies for Sale

Conceiving Israel : The Fetus in Rabbinic Narratives
Stock photo: cover may vary

Conceiving Israel : The Fetus in Rabbinic Narratives

by Kessler, Gwynn

  • Used
Condition
Used
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780812241754 / 0812241754
Quantity available
10
Seller
Better World Books
Biblio Top Seller
Item price
A$24.59
Free Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:
University of Pennsylvania Press. Used - Very Good. Pages intact with possible writing/highlighting. Binding strong with minor wear. Dust jackets/supplements may not be included. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.
Add to wish list
Item price
A$24.59
Free Delivery to USA
Conceiving Israel : The Fetus in Rabbinic Narratives
Stock photo: cover may vary

Conceiving Israel : The Fetus in Rabbinic Narratives

by Kessler, Gwynn

  • Used
Condition
New
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780812241754 / 0812241754
Quantity available
2
Seller
Better World Books
Biblio Top Seller
Item price
A$24.59
Free Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:
University of Pennsylvania Press. Used - Like New. Used book that is in almost brand-new condition. May contain a remainder mark. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.
Add to wish list
Item price
A$24.59
Free Delivery to USA
Conceiving Israel : The Fetus in Rabbinic Narratives
Stock photo: cover may vary

Conceiving Israel : The Fetus in Rabbinic Narratives

by Kessler, Gwynn

  • Used
Condition
Used
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780812241754 / 0812241754
Quantity available
1
Seller
Better World Books
Biblio Top Seller
Item price
A$24.59
Free Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:
University of Pennsylvania Press. Used - Good. Former library copy. Pages intact with minimal writing/highlighting. The binding may be loose and creased. Dust jackets/supplements are not included. Includes library markings. Stock photo provided. Product includes identifying sticker. Better World Books: Buy Books. Do Good.
Add to wish list
Item price
A$24.59
Free Delivery to USA
Conceiving Israel: The Fetus in Rabbinic Narratives (Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion)
Stock photo: cover may vary

Conceiving Israel: The Fetus in Rabbinic Narratives (Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion)

by Kessler, Gwynn

  • New
  • Hardback
Condition
New
Binding
Hardcover
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780812241754 / 0812241754
Quantity available
6
Seller
Ergodebooks
Item price
A$34.76
Free Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009-09-23. hardcover. New. 6.25x1.00x9.25. Buy with confidence. Excellent Customer Service & Return policy.
Add to wish list
Item price
A$34.76
Free Delivery to USA
Conceiving Israel: The Fetus in Rabbinic Narratives (Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion)
Stock photo: cover may vary

Conceiving Israel: The Fetus in Rabbinic Narratives (Divinations: Rereading Late Ancient Religion)

by Kessler, Gwynn

  • Used
  • Good
  • Hardback
Condition
Good
Binding
Hardcover
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780812241754 / 0812241754
Quantity available
1
Seller
Bonita
Item price
A$55.81
Free Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:
hardcover. Good. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book.
Add to wish list
Item price
A$55.81
Free Delivery to USA
Conceiving Israel: The Fetus in Rabbinic Narratives

Conceiving Israel: The Fetus in Rabbinic Narratives

by Gwynn Kessler

  • New
  • Hardback
Condition
New
Binding
Hardcover
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780812241754 / 0812241754
Quantity available
2
Seller
The Saint Bookstore
Biblio Top Seller
Item price
A$110.33
A$19.24 Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:
Hardback. New. Kessler shows how the rabbis of the third through sixth centuries turned to non-Jewish writings on embryology and procreation to explicate the biblical insistence on the primacy of God's role in procreation at the expense of the biological parents.
Add to wish list
Item price
A$110.33
A$19.24 Delivery to USA
Conceiving Israel: The Fetus in Rabbinic Narratives

Conceiving Israel: The Fetus in Rabbinic Narratives

by Gwynn Kessler

  • New
  • Hardback
Condition
New
Binding
Hardcover
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780812241754 / 0812241754
Quantity available
2
Seller
The Saint Bookstore
Biblio Top Seller
Item price
A$117.64
A$19.24 Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:
Hardback. New. Kessler shows how the rabbis of the third through sixth centuries turned to non-Jewish writings on embryology and procreation to explicate the biblical insistence on the primacy of God's role in procreation at the expense of the biological parents.
Add to wish list
Item price
A$117.64
A$19.24 Delivery to USA
Conceiving Israel – The Fetus in Rabbinic Narratives
Stock photo: cover may vary

Conceiving Israel – The Fetus in Rabbinic Narratives

by Kessler, Gwynn

  • New
  • Hardback
Condition
New
Binding
Hardcover
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9780812241754 / 0812241754
Quantity available
2
Seller
Revaluation Books
Item price
A$165.60
A$48.35 Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:
Univ of Pennsylvania Pr, 2009. Hardcover. New. 256 pages. 9.25x6.25x1.00 inches.
Add to wish list
Item price
A$165.60
A$48.35 Delivery to USA
Show all copies
Back to top↑

Please wait a moment while we load the requested page.